Reviews

Who was that kind who took the gun out of the class cabinet? Was that a memory from Frank's past or was it something that happened concurrently?

This series is really messing with your head, and I think it is one of the most dangerous shows on television (after FOX news). Politicians that kill with their own bare hands are now less shocking than betrayal, treason, and blackmail. It is interesting also to see how this affects the political climate and behavior, if at all.

My prediction for the Underwoods is that they will eventually, like all those who are good at being powerful, secure a comfortable retirement in their Gaffney estate, have glowing biographies written about them, just like in real life.

So it ends as it did in season one of A Game of Thrones: Danaerys Taergaryan shows herself in all her glory as the Mother of Dragons.

After several episodes of whining and bitching and going around in some weird couture that didn't strike me as fitting the last remaining Blood of the Dragon and a Dothraki Kaleesi, Daenerys Stormborn foreshadows what is to come in book five of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance of Dragons.

So at the end of Season Two of HBO's flagship series, here's where we're at:

-Catelyn Stark releases Jamie Lannister to negotiate her daughters' release at King's Landing (she doesn't know that Arya isn't there because Littlefinger lied. As usual.). She sends Brienne of Tarth as his escort.

-Rob Stark, King of the North, has married Talisa instead of the daughter of Walder Frey, like he promised.

-Tyrion is no longer the Hand of the King, and he has just learned that Sersei tried to have him killed in battle

-Danaerys is about to cross the narrow sea to Westeros

-Geoffrey Baratheon announces he will make Margery Tyrell, the wife of his uncle Renly Baratheon and sister of Laurus Tyrell, Renly's lover, his queen instead of Sansa

-Theon Greyjoy is taken back to his homeland of Pike as a prisoner by his own men

-Stannis Baratheon sees a vision that Melisandre shows him in the fire, which we assume is his ultimate victory

-Jon Snow has killed Quorin Halfhand, a brother of the Night's Watch, and is now being taken to the King Beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder, who is poised to attack the South.

Continue reading the rest of the review (with images) here: http://www.wheninmanila.com/?p=48612

The problem with making a movie about intelligence, is the lack of intelligence possessed by the people making the movie.

A modern day version of the fairy tale Jack & the Beanstalk, the hero is given some "beans" by some stranger which he "plants" unthinkingly. The beans take him to a castle in the sky where unbelievable riches are simply lying around for the taking. Hold on though--there's a giant that wants nothing more than to grind his bones to make his bread!

The parts that aren't inspired by the tale of Jack and his magic beans are the women in his life, and the anti-drug and moralistic themes that somehow lose their way as the film winds to a close. And these are what ruined the film.

Eddie's ex and current girl both try the brain-boosting drug. The ex shows the terrible effects of taking too much brain food, but at the end, conveniently limps out of his life while dispensing words of wisdom on dosage and how now, he has to keep taking the pill "or else you'll die!" His girlfriend tries the drug, pulls off some running/parkour that would impress Will Smith and Tom Cruise, but feels that, even after having, what I am assuming is superintelligent sex, that the drug is "bad." Her reason? Because it's not really you doing these things. Lame. Why do the women always have to be typecast as voices of reason? Ghosts of Christmas Past rattling chains, yet at the same time, not really giving any actual lessons.

The anti-drug message of the film, which is just that the pills have a downside: Take too much and you'll black out while fighting multiple dudes on a subway--and where all those seemingly wasted hours zoning out on action movies and youtube videos actually pays off, and you just might actually kill a supermodel. None of this hits home as the murder is never resolved, and you're taught that moderation is they key.

The biggest downer, however, is the fact that by the end of the film, the message becomes that the benefits of having full use of your brain, still does not preclude acting like a total tool. Unimaginative writing propagates the already prevalent belief that above-average intelligence is really all about making loads of money quickly and getting a lot of punani. Oh, and becoming a US senator who will screw with people on a global scale.

You've got Zooey Deschanel acting like the new Meg Ryan, and a looking-and-sounding-more-like-Ledger-everyday Jason Gordon-Levitt; both are decent thespians, neither have unflattering angles, reviews use the word 'quirky' more times than you can count--this is pure box office gold right here. What could go wrong?

Nothing. Or so I thought. I actually wanted to see this movie. And, despite the annoyingly sporadic bursts of applause from an overenthusiastic moviegoer, I actually didn't find it too bad. But then I watched it again. I missed the first 5 minutes, see. The longer I thought about this movie, the more I found it disturbing.

"Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely accidental...Especially Jenny Beckman...Bitch."

This movie is really about hate, revenge, and why you shouldn't date fun, interesting, and unique women.

For a movie that mentions the word 'love' more times than any movie I've seen before, it has hardly anything to substantial or significant to say about this elusive idea. Oohhhhh, so it takes TWO people to fall in love! Really?! Is that news? One will learn more about a) indie music (the Smiths are indie now, I guess), b) how to make music videos from Marc Webb, and c) how to go on fun dates by frolicking in furniture stores, record shops, and drawing on your date's arm while staring meaningfully into the distant architecture.

Tom Hansen does absolutely nothing to enrich Summer as a person; or help her confront her childhood issues. He is simply the proverbial dick in the glass case. Break glass in case of emergency. Zooey's character Summer on the other hand, inspires Tom to pursue his life's ambition to become an architect. And he even ends up with the drop-dead Minka Kelly (who receives unusually high credits for gorgeously appearing for less than 5 minutes) as a result. So despite his bitching, Tom actually came out of it better than, perhaps, Summer. The audience doesn't even see who Summer ends up marrying...the writers know they can't justify it, besides, they've built Tom up too much already. So they just leave it at some lame encounter in a café where some random schmo comments on an Oscar Wilde book she's reading. Can this movie possibly get any more indie?

If you haven't seen "When Harry Met Sally," I highly recommend watching that instead. At least you'll learn something about relationships.